1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the field of network processing elements.
2. Background Art
A network processor may facilitate an exchange of information via one or more networks. For example, a network processor may receive, process, and transmit packets of information. Some network processors include a number of high-speed processing elements (e.g., microengines) to process the packets in the data plane. For example, a processing element may parse headers associated with information packets (e.g., to determine how each information packet should be processed and/or transmitted).
A modified version of a standard high-level programming language, such as a modified version of a C programming language, may be used to create code for the processing elements. The modified version may comprise, for example, a subset of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI)/International Standards Organization (ISO)/International Engineering Consortium (IEC) standard entitled “Programming Languages—C,” Document Number 9899 (Dec. 1, 1999) along with some additional hardware intrinsic functions (e.g., functions associated with the processing element).